I’m sure you’ve heard the saying: It’s all about how you market your voice over business…

Here is the hot tip people, IT IS...all about how you market your voice over business!

But there’s also an ‘addendum’ to that statement,

Do more of what works… and less of what doesn’t…

What does that mean exactly? This one took me a long time to knuckle down but I think I got it...

It means you need to be constantly leaving ‘marketing landmines’ for potential clients to ‘trip over’ but these landmines need to be where your potential clients will find them!

It’s a fact that as an entrepreneur, you can spend a lot of money and time on voiceover portals, pay to play and social media websites and mailer programs, etc, that bring slim results, if any.

Which brings me back to the statement, DO MORE of what works…

Now, to Fiverr...

Fiverr was once known as a ‘cheapie freelancer website’ full of guys in gorilla suits and girls in bikinis, happy to sing happy birthday to your loved one for five dollars, and it was also infamously thought of as the ‘race to the bottom’ for the voiceover industry…

There are still plenty of Old School Agency based Voice talents that don’t like Fiverr at all… But now, due to complete business and website restructure, Fiverr is busily assisting freelancers to make a decent living, and for those that know how to use the Fiverr website algorithm to their advantage, can be making upwards of 100k a year! 

It makes good sense that the busier you are on Fiverr, the more the Fiverr business makes, as they take 20% of everything you earn on the site, which is only fair, but it also means, they’ll happily promote the DOERS on the site because naturally, it means a greater profit for Fiverr! 

No more guys in gorilla suits and girls in bikinis…  I think Fiverr has worked out that it’s not the way to greatness :)

What does this mean for you? 

For one, It means you need to be on Fiverr, but in saying that, you also need to be seen because guess what? The ‘word’s out’ on Fiverr and every man, woman and child with a voice and a microphone and a foam box is heading that way, it’s like the gold rush is on all over again and every prospector is on the road fixin’ to set up a goldmine on Fiverr… That is if they’re not there already…

How to stand out?... It’s by doing your dishes...

Just by looking around on the Fiverr site, you’ll find all sorts of marketing attempts on freelancers gigs. Some are ridiculous, some are well presented but not terribly talented and others, well, these are the ‘owners of cool’ with great photos, great demos, well laid out profiles… and guess what? They’re making good money by being that way, so, take the lesson early young Jedi, do your dishes, put in the work, get all your fields filled out and get a variety of different gigs onto Fiverr, all with good content, good photos, and good demos, and you too can be a part of the thriving Fiverr elite that are all working on making a reasonable living, providing their own variety of voiceover services to the globe…

Being active in other markets… not having all your eggs in one basket

This topic is as ‘broad as the briny seas’ (insert pirate ‘a-harrrgh’ here :) )

This also brings us back to DOING MORE of what works and LESS of what doesn’t and as voiceover talents, marketers, and entrepreneurs…

It’s sometimes difficult to see what’s actually working, helping you get clients and bringing greater profits into your business.

I think we all start with the scatter gun approach of throwing as much ‘marketing mud’ on everything we can hit, in the hope something sticks…right?

But the truth of it is, the voice-over industry and market can be a fickle beast that seems to be constantly evolving and we need to be ‘agile’ enough to keep our faces and our voices in our potential client's ears and most importantly, their memory…

Given we now market ‘business to business and ‘client to client’ rather than work being ‘dished out’ through advertising agencies, keep in mind, our potential clients are also using freelancer websites and social media to find people to do the work they require. This is why you need to ‘spread your net’ into areas where people will see your work and not have all your eggs in one basket…

I find everyone eventually finds their ‘mix of marketing tools that bring the best results but don’t be afraid to close down or leave the ones that aren’t bringing you results and can be a waste of your precious ‘client hunting’ time and money…

LinkedIn, Upwork, Bodalgo, Voices.com, Voice123, Big Mouth.com… 

I could go on and on with potential sites and portals I’ve looked at and have been involved in which may or may not work for you. Everything is worth at least a look, but if there are already one hundred thousand hungry voices already listed on a particular site, you’ve gotta ask the question, will you really have much of a chance, getting a show? 

My suggestion is ‘trim as you go’ and continue to use what works.

For me, it’s Fiverr, VoiceJungle, People Per Hour, Instagram, Linkedin, Facebook, the Voice Realm, Voquent, and many more that bring me results. 

Some sites may only bring one or two jobs per month, but that’s ok if they aren’t costing you a fortune to be represented there… It also helps your social profile to be on as many sites as you can manage, but be wary of subscription-based sites that are overloaded with talent similar to you and your tone...

To your continued voiceover success,

Anthony Pica